I'll Watch Yout Grow
by Egotistical psycho
Summary: Naruto, on his training trip with Jiraiya, runs into a certain mysterious grew girl who seems to have a neck and just abundance to getting into tough situations. But he can't blame given her circumstances. (Don't own Naruto) NarutoXOc


**I'll Watch You Grow**

**Chapter 1**

Its fear that drives people to do wrong

But what leads to fear

Hatred

Hatred and fear are things all humans hold

From children to adults, everyone of all ages

Even the feared fear fearful things

Except us...

For we are

"Kai." These words suddenly left the lips of a short boy with messy, unruly sun blond hair that just reached his lower neck and it hung over his forehead and over a blue headband with a metal plate plastered on it, which contained a leaf insignia on it. The boy had deep ocean blue eyes with slightly tanned skin that was obscured by three slits on both his cheeks. The boy wore a orange, white and blue jumpsuit with a red spiral on the upper back, but currently, the circle was being hid by a greenish-blue backpack.

To his left, walking on the dirt road path leading out of the Land of Fire, an older man with messy white hair that was tied in a ponytail, but he still had two bangs framing his face with a metal plate on his forehead which contained two horns and the kanji for "Myoboku". His eyes are stern and dark with red lines trailing down them. The man looked to his right out the corner of his eye and down to the boy. "You say something, Naruto?" The man questioned curiously, swearing that he heard something.

The dubbed Naruto raised a brow at hearing this and looked to his left. He hummed. "What do you mean, Pervy-sage?" He sent a question back to the man he would be training with. His curiosity was greater than anything, knowing he had not said anything in the past two minutes.

The man looked at the younger boy for another second or so, swearing he heard something in his voice. Or was this walking just getting to him about now. It had taken them two days to get in the appropriate spot for the next stop in their training journey, which was hopefully the first hotspring they could find. His attention turned back forward as he closed his eyes. He let out a breath. "Nothing..." But his eyes lowered greater seeing what was in front of him and this caused him to stop.

Naruto stopped alongside the man having the thought of Jiraiya being the weirdest adults he had ever known. "What's wrong..." His head slowly turned forward and also deadpanned at what he saw. "Pervy..." In front of them was an intersecting road with a sign to the right of them with for arrows pointing down each way. "Sage." The arrow on the top had "Hidden Dusk Village" written in kanji pointing forward, the second was pointing left and it had "Dusk Hotspring" written on it and the final one pointed to the right and it said "Dusk Gorge". Naruto sighed in frustration. "Where f-" While he spoke, his eyes trailed to the left to see that Jiraiya was gone to do some of his..."Research". He groaned with his head tucked and his eyes closed. "I've never even been here before," He lifted both his hands and grabbed both the straps to his backpack as he began to trudge forward to the village he had never even heard of.

Far behind the whiskered boy, a girl with a darker version of caramel skin ran, panting as if she was out of breath.

As Naruto walked toward the village, he mumbled under his breath about how much of a perve and how stupid Pervy-Sage was. His eyes were closed with his brows knitted in irritation. "Always leaving me to perve on some unsuspecting women." He groaned as the road inclined and turned into a downward slope, but he stopped right at top to look down at the large, civil village just about three mile away. It looked as if the village was in the middle of nowhere with a massive mote on the opposite side. The was huge enough to make his eyes widened, but it was not as big as the Leaf. "Not to shabby..." He lifted his left leg.

"Stay away from me!"

Naruto heard this shout from a soft female voice and a few more scattered shouts that was from men, directed to the girl maybe. His head lifted as he let his foot touch back down of the ground, letting the voices from behind catch his attention. "What the..." He trailed off as the rapid footsteps got closer to him and his head began to turn to the left, but once he was to see directly to the left, a girl with a darker skin tone with long bright orange hair that fell to her thighs ran past him. His eyes were wide as he watched her run past him in slo-mo with her bangs hiding most of her face, but he could see that she was in a hurry. A blush slowly crept onto his cheeks feeling this sudden aura that resonated from that girl. It made him want to be close to her... She shot passed him and down the hill with only second between...- Naruto had to stop himself as he counted the men chasing after her. 'Ten of 'em.' His eyes narrowed as he watched them part from him. He did not like them odds...especially dealing with a little girl.

Far ahead, the girl felt herself slowing down, her bangs hiding the exhaustion in her eyes. She merely continued to pant frantically. All she could hear was the shouts behind herself. They were telling her to give up what she had, but she had nothing but her personal possessions on her person. She swallowed the knot in her throat seeing as began to lose feeling in her legs, so that meant she began to slow down.

The very first man lifted his left hand seeing as she was about to be in arms reach. After only a second, he slung his arm forward with a smirk on his face. He grabbed the tippy top of her head and gripped her hair as he then threw her to the right at the ground. But before she could hit the ground, someone with a blond mop of hair caught her and vanished. "Ah, what the..." The man groaned in frustration after the turn of events as he then grunted and clinched his fist in aggravation. "That boy was Leaf." His head lifted and his eyes narrowed to the village just ahead.

His men stopped behind him, having witnessed what almost happened. They almost had her...

**Scene Change **

Only a few minutes later, Naruto sat side by side with the girl he had just rescued a bit ago. They were in a alley within that village that bore a weird resemblance to the Leaf, minus the Hokage monument and the stores. The scenery just reminded the boy about Konoha, he guessed. His eyes were lowered a bit at his own thoughts of being homesick, until he was snapped out of his own world hearing the girl next to him pant. His eyes trailed over to the left seeing her naked, dark legs up to her upper thigh that contained a type of skin tight black shorts. Right at the upper hip of the shorts were two lavender flowers hanging from a thin chain that seemed to be long enough to touch her knee. Her upper wear consisted of a red and white cut off priestess robe that stopped right below her belly button with long sleeves that covered her hands. Around her neck, she also wore a necklace with a diamond emerald green pendant of a crosshair. she had a type of hime cut with her bright orange hair reaching down pass her butt. Her bangs were pushed to the right of her face showing her forehead and the kanji for "Lies" in white ink where her forehead could be seen with the hair being pushed to right partially hiding her large teal eyes that showed fatigue. Also she had two orthodox bangs framing her face. Naruto eyes looked onto her small lips which held a beauty mark under the left side.

The girl only continued to pant, eyes only looking down to her red strapped sandles.

Only after a few seconds of staring at the girl with a thoughtful expression, Naruto opened his mouth, but right when he opened his mouth, the girl's right eye shifted to the right at him in an instant. This caused him to closed his mouth as a pink tint cascaded across his cheeks and he looked the other way out of the alley, watching as people walked passed. 'Wassup with that look?' He questioned himself in his own thoughts. She seemed to be very suspicious of him...given that look.

'What's with this boy?' The darker skinned girl studied Naruto intently from top to bottom until her eyes rested on his forehead. Her eyes widened just a bit at seeing this. 'Konoha...' This boy was from the village just like that man.

Naruto began to feel weird. It was that feeling you get when you could just feel someone just staring a hole into the back of your head. But that was when he heard the girl grunt. He turned his head to the left quickly to see the girl pushing herself up using the wall. "Hey, wait." He lifted his hand at her.

"Argh." The girl was able to get to her feet easily and she dustied herself off. Once she finished, her eyes trailed down to the right to look down at Naruto at her side. "Thank you." She said softly, but in a stern voice.

"It was nothing." Naruto shrugged it off as he pushed himself up to his feet to stand in front of her. He was able to get a better look at her to tell that she was probably the same age as him, maybe a few month older. "But are you gonna be okay?" He asked her, digging his hands into his pockets. "Those guys seemed serious about catching you."

The girl looked at the boy in front of her with a "Oh really" look on her face. The leader did toss her on the ground like she was a rag doll. It almost made her chuckle, huh. She rolled her large teal eyes, but in the middle of the sequence, she closed her eyes with a huff.

Naruto placed his left hand on her shoulder. "You think they'll come back to get you?" He questioned her with his tough guy expression.

The young girl opened her teal eyes to look dead at Naruto. She cocked her head to the left. "Follow me, please." She spoke and walked off and out the alley.

Naruto grew a stink face as he mumbled, "who is she to be instructing me". Yet, he followed her, currently wondering why this girl looked like some type of priestess with those upper Shrine robes on. Once he was out of the dark alley, he stepped into the bright light of the sun, lifting his right hand to block his eyes, but he stared at the back of the girl, who stopped to watch the people pass.

The girl shifted down and patted the dirt ground. Her head then shifted to the right to look over her shoulder and up at the boy behind her. "You see," She rubbed her right index finger in a circle in the dirt. "My village has a certain type of seal within that prevents people like THEM to gain access within the walls."

"People like them?" Naruto lifted both his hands in a pretty confused way. "What do you mean by that?"

The dark skinned girl only turned her head to look straight to the ground for only a few seconds until she bent her knee and stood up straight. "People that have the goal or thought about hurting me in any way." She spoke and swung around to face him. She stared at the mysterious boy, who looked back to her, but with a more serious expression.

Naruto stared at her for only a few seconds more until his lips moved. "Who are you, exactly?" He asked.

The girl turned her head away from the boy with her arms crossed. "I should be asking you that since you ARE in MY village." She spoke bashfully.

"Oh, right." Naruto gave her and eye closed grin and pointed a thumb to his own chest. It was only great manner to introduce yourself first. "Call me Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage of the Leaf."

Secretly, the name got to the girl for some reason. The reason why was totally hidden to her. 'Uzumaki...' She did not understand the reason why that name unsettled her to such a extent. She shook the feeling off as she moved her left hand to her chest as if she was royal. "Well, I'm..."

Before the girl could finish, two older women appeared behind the girl, whole wore shrine robes. There was actually a graceful feeling to one of the females and a hostile feeling from the other with their hair being hid by a headdress. The one to the left had large, joyful pink eyes and the one to the right had grayish eyes set down into a stern position as if a glare was stuck to her face.

"Huh." The dark skinned girl turned her head to look over her shoulder.

"Priestess Airi," The one with the pink eyes started with a upbeat voice.

"There is a man at the shrine in need of one of your blessings." The gray eyed one continued with a voice that would make you go into a deep dark depression.

"Will you indulge him, and spare a moment dealing with this." The both of the women finished with a smile on the pink eyed one's face and a straight line on the face of the gray eyed one, holding their hands in front of their dresses. The both of the women bowed to her. "If you want, you may bring your..." Both of the women lifted up and narrowed their eyes at Naruto's headband. They hummed a bit a seeing the leaf sign on the metal plate of the headband. Their whole posture then change once they saw Naruto, with the more joyful one clapping her hands together and the life-sucking one crossing her arms over her chest. "Ah, a Leaf Ninja." The pink eyed one smiled at the perturbed Naruto and the stoic Airi. "What is a Leaf Ninja doing here..." They trailed off.

"Uh..." Naruto had no idea how to tell them that he was just lost with Pervy Sage. "You see, me and Pervy Sage accidentally stumbled onto this village..." He looked around himself to check out the strange village. "Actually, I've never heard of this village..." He threw his arms up and put his hands behind his head as his eyes shifted to the left at Airi. "and I met her," Naruto never noticed Airi's eyes begin to widen as he started. "Outside the village right on top of that hill. She was being chased by some men."

The women looked to Naruto for a few seconds, never noticing Airi trying to slide away, inconspicuously. "Priestess Airi!" The two woman had both their arms crossed in frustration as they looked to Airi, who had stopped with a 'caught red handed' look on her face. "What have we told you about leaving the village?"

Airi only began to sulk at hearing the older priestess speak to her. Her head was cast down and her hair was shadowing her eyes.

Naruto turned his head to the left to look over his shoulder at the girl.

"There are dangerous people out there and they will always be drawn to you if you have not gone under the proper training." The priestess with the pink eyes warned Airi once more, unable to recall the amount of time she and the others had told her about the outside world passed the seal. The pink eyed woman sighed and hung her head a bit.

Naruto listened to the woman intently, hearing what she had said. 'Drawn to her?' He spoke in his thoughts. That feeling happened to him when he first saw Airi. It was like something was drawing him toward her. He looked toward the two woman in front of him with his eyebrows furrowed. "Tell me," He spoke, grabbing their attention, including Airi who lifted her head just a bit. "Who exactly is this night light?" He spoke, referring to her hair as bright.

Airi raised a brow in confusion. 'Did he just call me a night light?" She wondered to herself.

The gray eyed one glared to the Konoha nin. "I would like it if you would refrain from the insulting nicknames toward Priestess Airi." She then lifted her left index finger and aimed it straight to his chest, channeling chakra throughout her whole hand. "Or I'll be pushed to eliminating you," She nodded down to Naruto, hoping he got the gist of what she was saying. "Okay?"

Naruto's eyes were as wide as they could with the woman finger pointed directly at him. He had not an idea of what this woman could do on the battle and he hope that anyone that would face her in the future would not be fooled by her priestess robes. "Uh..."

"Don't mind her." The pink eyed one spoke lowering her associate's hand with her right hand. She stepped forward toward Naruto and put a hand on his head as he tucked a bit from her touch. "She's the personal guard for our Head Priestess here..." Her eyes darted behind Naruto to Airi for just a few seconds. The woman then took Naruto's hand in a second, which caused the younger boy to blush. "You want to know about Airi, huh?" She spoke to the silent Naruto, who only nodded. She then started to walk off, pulling Naruto along with her. "Then let's start at the shrine."

As the two left toward the shrine, the gray eyed woman was looking down at Airi with her stern expression. Her eyes were narrowed down at the shorter female in slight disappointment. The woman then turned her back on Airi, looking over her right shoulder to the only girl that stood out in this village. "Come on, you still have duties minus your complete negligence to my clear warnings."

Airi only kept her head down, hearing the woman speak to her. She was right; she ignored the orders she received millions of time and it was a blatant show of disrespect toward her. But... Her teeth gritted in frustration. So many restrictions she was placed on while only just being a kid, so YEAH! Of course! Why would they not expect her to leave?

"You may explain yourself once I feel the need to listen." The woman's stern and stoic voice made Airi twitch with slight anger. But the woman never noticed as she started walking to follow the more cheerful priestess up ahead.

Airi's head lifted just a bit after the woman had began to walk away. It showed... The complete animosity on her face toward the woman, but she never tried to hate the woman. Actually she did not hate her. She knew Priestess Amai was only doing her job, which meant protecting her. She wished Amai could be more like Priestess Mai; just a bit carefree. "But now..." She trailed off as her head lifted to the sky and at the beaming sun in the cloudless sky. Her right hand lifted and shielded her eyes from the sun. "I vow to live outside of this barrier."

On the other side of this vow, Naruto walked side by side Mai with a total confused look on his face having his eyes closed. The woman had explained, enthusiastically, where he was and the history of the village he was currently in. She had explained it so thoroughly that his brain could not handle so much information.

The Priestess Mai smiled to the right at Naruto with both her hands clapped together in front of her chest. "Okay, Naruto..." She spoke. "Let's recap!" She exclaimed, unsettling the Jinchuriki. Her left index finger lifted. "I...uh..." She then drew a blank at seeing Naruto's unresponsive face showing that he had not a clue or memory of what she had told him. "Uh, Uzumaki?" Amai slid in front of Naruto with a sheepish expression having her eyes closed and a halfhearted smile.

The sun blond boy stopped as he then scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "...could ya just call me Naruto?" He questioned. "Using my last name is a bit too formal, ya know."

Mai nodded and then questioned, "Do you remember anything I told you?"

Naruto shook his head truthfully. "Sorry."

"Well, Na-ru-to..." Mai spoke out each syllable in a seductive way, which caused the boy to blush as she tapped his nose with her right index finger with her left hand on her hip. "This village, The Hidden Dusk, was founded years ago...before both the Shinobi Wars." She explained. "It was built from the ground up by a Priest name Fumio Hitsugaya, a Priest of immense power and raw knowledge. But the power he received to build this village was not inherited through his bloodline, but he was blessed by a man. A man we still have yet to know...only his bright orange hair and his teal eyes including his dark skin."

"Wait..." This small bit of information made Naruto think. His eyes were closed for a bit until they opened to look a priestess. "Orange hair, Teal eyes, dark skin..." He threw his arms behind his head in thought. "Isn't that how Airi looks?"

Mai nodded. "We've already come to this conclusion; Airi has to be a descendant of that man." She informed the boy.

"She must have relatives around the Nations, maybe?" Naruto spoke.

"I doubt it." Mai shook her head as she crossed her arms. "Our studies have been concluded for years now..." She paused for dramatic effect. "But she is the only one of her kind...whatever clan that man was from is long gone and she is the last one; a sole survivor."

Naruto eyes were as wide as saucers in complete astonishment. A thought ran through his mind that he hoped was not true, but it seemed that it would be true, so he had to ask. "No parents..." His head lowered a bit. "No family then, huh?" He felt the crack in his voice and the disdain that it held.

"Like I said." Mai turned her back to him, feeling the emotion this conversation held. "Sole Survivor." Her head lifted to the sky. "She grew up with me and my sister Amai, but the fact that I said 'grew up' is that Airi is kinda Immortal."

"Oh...for real?" Naruto did not feel the full effect of what the woman had said. He nodded as if she did not declare that Airi was an immortal being, which meant that night light could not die! But his mind was set on the fact that Airi was just like him.

Mai shrugged her shoulders seeing as Naruto took that bit of information in stride. "Hmph...the first outsid-"

"WHAAAAT!" Naruto yelled in complete shock, also cutting off the woman, which was actually rude. His eyes were completely wide in shock. "How is she immortal?"

The woman stood with her back to Naruto nonchalantly with a soft hum. "We actually don't know." She shrugged as if it was not nothing. "Its still pretty surprising to us."

"Uh...what?" Naruto settled a bit at hearing that they were still as perturbed about how Airi was immortal as he was at the current moment. If Airi would have known about her own abnormality, then this woman with her back to him would have known, too. Calmly, he let out a soft breath to readjust himself from that information as his eyes then shifted from left to right around the village. He was checking out the security...they were 'laxed. Actually, there was no one on guard and this confused him. His hand lifted to scratch his left cheek as he looked to the back of the woman. "Hey...uh..."

"Call me Mai!" Mai exclaimed as she spun around energetically and flashed him a soft smile with her hands entwined behind her back. "And what's on your mind, Naruto?" She asked.

Naruto nodded to her. "Okay, Mai," The young Jinchuriki took another scan around the village for only a quick second and returned his sights on the pale skin woman. "Why is it so chilled here?"

"Hmm?" She hummed in response.

"There's no shinobi guardin' this village." Naruto stated.

"Oh, yeah." Mai lifted her right index finger. "Unlike the other five great Nations, we have no government here in the Dusk, which means we have no Shinobi or Civilian council to arrange them roles." She continued with a more serious expression. "All we have is the Brother slash Sisterhood of Priest and Priestess, who is lead by Airi." She explained. "But don't let them robes foul you," She brought a fist up and put it to her chest with a illuminating smile that Might Guy would fail to defeat. "We can pack a real punch."

Naruto smiled back to the taller woman. "I would've guess, ya know." Naruto really enjoyed her presence. Unlike that other woman that looked just like her, she was more spontaneous and joyful. It was kind of hard to not like her, ya know.

"What are you two doing?"

Mai lifted her head as Naruto turned his head to look over his left shoulder to see Amai walking toward them with Airi a few steps behind her. By the look of things, it seemed they were not on even terms with one another seeing as Airi walked with her arms crossed with the long sleeves draped and a distasteful look on her face.

Amai seemingly walked straight passed them, never even exchanging a glance to her twin sister or the blond haired Jinchuriki. She merely continued forward to the massive gray building ahead without the rest of them.

Airi continued too, but at least she nodded toward Naruto and Amai to give them a hint that they were heading toward the castle-like building ahead.

"Shall we then." Mai spoke as she spun around to face the massive building, looking over her shoulder to him.

"Yeah, let's go."

**Scene Change **

"Oh, Mister...your so nasty." Came a girlish chuckle from Hotspring that was marked "Dusk Hotspring" on the outside in Kanji.

Within the steamy bath, Jiraiya let out a bellowing laugh in victory. Said Sage sat between two women with his arms around their necks as the all chuckled. "I hope Naruto's havin' a better time than I am." He chuckled.

**Scene Change**

Meanwhile, on the Southern side of the Village Hidden in the Dusk, a man walked down the slope heading toward the village with a pretty nonchalant look plastered on his face. He was a middle aged man with tanned skin with short brown hair that fell to the base of his neck and had bangs partially covering his eyes that hung over a black headband with a musical note etched into the metal plate. He was tall and he looked to be built like a shinobi, with his drastic dark red eyes that looked to be in a furious position.

The man hummed to himself as he closed in on the entrance gate of the Dusk village. This could go as smooth as he wanted it to or this could be a complete catastrophe before he actually got through them large, sunrise orange gates. Without taking a second look, the man calmly flipped a coin in his left hand and spoke 'Tails' in his mind. Instead of catching the coin, the man continued to walk as it hit the dirt behind. The man was looking behind himself out the corner of his eyes. He huffed with a cocky smirk on his face. "Guess I'm lucky, huh?"

**Time Skip**

Time had began to pass since Naruto's departure to the Main Shrine of the Hidden Dusk. The sun was beginning to set, which made the sky a lovely orange. Our favorite blond haired Jinchuriki had been given a short tour of the great shrine that had been built by Airi's ancestors. Supposedly. Currently, the young Uzumaki sat on a beige pillow on the stone floor on a upper level divided from the lower floor by two steps. He sat in a sloppy Indian style having his left hand holding him up. To his left, sitting on an identical pillow, was Amai with more posture, sitting on her knees. To his right, also sitting on a pillow, was Mai, the more upbeat twin. What had changed about them was that they had both removed their headdresses revealing both of their long, thick brown hair that fell down to their lower backs that split of like a swallow with bangs on both sides of their forehead minus the middle with a part at the top of their heads.

In front of all three of them was the head priestess herself, Airi. She sat about four feet ahead of them on her knees having both her eyes closed with her head hung just a bit. Yet her bright orange hair still managed to be sprawled all over the floor. If one blond idiot was paying attention, he would see that she had both her hands clasped together close to her chest in a praying fashion.

Naruto eyes began to wander throughout the main hall of this dull gray Shrine. The place was gigantic, but it was so boring. Along both sides, cylinder columns were aligned measuring to about twenty of them, all with a mystical type of tribal etching along each one of them. The ceiling was about forty feet high with three upward humps that separated each part from one another, which was the sides of the ceiling and the middle. This was boring and it made his head drop. All they were doing was watch Airi for the pass couple minutes and his boredom caused him to lean over to the left near Amai.

Amai noticed this and her sharp eyes snapped to the right at him.

"Yo, Amai." Naruto whispered into her ear. "What're we doin'?"

"Be quiet." She spoke pretty sternly as her eyes shifted back forward patiently.

This only caused Naruto to groan and readjust himself to the spot he was at once before. Letting his boredom takeover once more, he leaned to the right toward Mai, hoping that she would be a bit more warm to him. "Hey, Mai."

Mai heard the whisper in her left ear. "What is it, Naruto?" She asked trying to act as kind as she could, but it was tough for her due to him talking during Airi's prayer. Her eyes shifted to the left.

"What's up with this?" Naruto asked the older woman next to him. "I mean, she's been right there doin' nothin' for awhile, ya know." He settled back into his Indian sitting style with his eyes closed and his hands on his knees.

Mai just turned her head toward him with a halfhearted eye closed smile. "Plea-"

Before she could finish, Naruto continued to speak. "I'm actually gettin' really bored just doin' nothin'," Unknowing to Naruto, Airi's brow began to twitch at the idiot talk. "I thought you were suppose to show me what Airi does, but you got me sittin' in this weird place, and I can just continue sittin'..."

"Oh, my god." Airi mysteriously spun around on her knees shutting the Maelstrom up in an instant. He teal eyes were piercing right into Naruto ocean blue eyes, which caused the boy to gulp and sweat drop. "Will you please be quiet, you idiot!" She fell forward and slammed her hands onto the cold stone floor still staring Naruto down. This caused Naruto, Mai and Amai to flinch at the smack sound that echoed. "All you are doing is whining!" She added a few head movement, which made her hair swing around. "I can do without it! Its irritating!" She finished lead off with hanging her head in frustration with a soft sigh.

"Uh..." Naruto was at a lost for words at the girls outburst.

"Priestess Airi..." Both Mai and Amai spoke out with a bit of concern. The 'Young' girl had never really yelled like that.

Airi was panting softly, but she stopped and lifted herself showing her dark face that was now being partially covered by her bright orange hair. She had her hands planted between her legs with a pouty look on her face. A sigh was just released from her lips once again as her right hand lifted to her face to brush her hair behind her right ear. Her head turned to the left and right at both Mai and Amai. "Just bring the man in." She spoke as she spun back around on the pillow which caused her hair to sway also.

"Uh, priestess!" Amai looked a bit shock and this caught Naruto's attention. "Were you even able to store enough chakra?"

'Huh?' Naruto's head shifted back in front of him.

"I have enough for a minor blessing." Airi informed the woman without even looking toward her. "So, inform the other priests that I'm ready."

"Yes." Amai nodded. She lifted her left hand and put her index and middle finger in her ear, pressing a device. "She's ready, bring in Mister Kutsugo." She spoke."

'Mister...Kutsugo?' Airi questioned in her thoughts.

Naruto sat there behind Airi with even a more confused look on his face than when Mai had told him that the Orange blossom was immortal.

In the next few seconds, a man walked through the large double door up ahead. He walked alone. A man with low cut blond hair and blue eyes. He looked as if he was really pessimistic with lines under his eyes. It was maybe fatigue.

Naruto felt this weird feeling come over him and the emotion that washed over him made the large room take a hostile aura. He looked over Airi's shoulder to the man walking toward them. He had a look filled with disdain. "What's wrong with him?"

"He was a criminal and now a beggar." Mai spoke with a sorrowful tone in her voice.

Naruto looked to the right at her.

"A few years ago, he was counted as one of the most prestigious priest that appointed under Airi." Mai explained as the man closed in. "He was actually her right hand...until he got greedy." She sighed and closed her eyes. "Long story short: I and Amai was set out to stop him, and it did not end well for him."

Naruto looked at the woman questioningly. "What happened?"

Mai eyed the boy for a second until she sighed.

As this went on, the man stopped at the bottom of the stair and stared at Airi, who stared back at the man.

Mai opened her mouth. "She took his chakra."

Naruto eyes widened at this and a gasped escaped his lips.

Mai hung her head just knowing Airi had heard her. She had to finish telling Naruto now. "Her Blessings...it can grant a negative and/or positive effect on you and the world around Airi." She explained. "There's a minor Blessing, which gives just a blessing that can effect things around temporarily, a mild blessing, which allows her to determine whether it will have a negative or positive result and a Major blessing that is qualified for those who Airi see fit. This type of blessing changes everything from a time line to the gender of a human, and it permanent."

Naruto stared at the woman

"Its even strong enough to strip you of your chakra; just a single word from her."

Mister Kutsugo suddenly fell to his knee with his eyes closed and his hands clasped together. "Miss Airi, I come today because I am a man down on his luck, a man that has done wrong and greatly regrets it." He spoke. "He did wrong to the very person that put him at her side and he has no idea how he could make it up to her. He regrets stealing from her, he regrets stealing from the village and he regrets breaking the bond they had established. But no matter how you feel toward me to this very day, he still needs to make it up to her, so please grant me a blessing."

"Hmph." Airi watched the man. Yes, he was a friend to he once, but he crossed the line when he sold the secret to her own body to villages that should not have known about her villages existence.

"A bond, huh?" Naruto eyes were half lidded at hearing that word being used. Her bond had been broken. She was just like him then. It was like looking a different version of him and Sasuke.

"Airi..." Mai whispered with uncertainty in her voice.

Amai eyes widened suddenly, but she hid it well. She felt something that made her immensely uneasy at the moment. This negative feeling just washed over her.

Airi closed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Get out of my sight, Mister Kutsugo." She spoke without any hesitation.

"Ah!" The man's eyes snapped open as did Naruto's.

Airi could not identify this feeling that was swelling up inside of her stomach. She knew it was anger, but it was not completely that. A half of her wanted to forgive him, but that type of trust could not be placed in just anyone anymore. She then started to push herself to her feet with the man staying on his knees. "I don't know why I continue to even let you stay in my village, let alone step into my shrine." She felt the emotion building up inside of her and her fist clinched. "How can you..." Airi marched down the few steps toward the man. "Sale secrets about my body!" She gripped onto the collar of the upper garment of the man's clothing and yoked the man up a bit, but it was not a lot due to the fact she was not strong enough yet. She was face to face with the man with tears welling up in her eyes. "Secrets I don't even know! But you have the audacity to come here, tail in hand, and beg for a blessing!" She let out a quick, overconfident laugh. "Ha!"

Not even in control of his body, Naruto quickly stood up straight and marched toward Airi with a pissed off expression.

Amai lifted her hand toward the boy. "What are you doing?"

"Stop, Naruto." Mai tried to halt the boy.

Airi growled in the face of the man with tears streaming down her face. But then she felt a hand land on her shoulder.

"What are you doin', Airi?" The hand had belonged to no one other than Naruto Uzumaki. He glared at Airi as he watched her head turn to the left to look over her shoulder. "He's your friend, right?"

Airi let go of the man and he hit the ground with a thump. She spun herself around to glare up to Naruto, who was on a higher step than her. "You shouldn't even be speaking on this matter!" She yelled, tears still streaming down her face.

"Yes I should!" Naruto yelled back clinching his fist. "Before, you were about to do that blessing thing until you saw him, so I know you're not a bad person." He shook his head. "If I were in your place, I would do it, because, no matter what, he would still be my friend."

Airi's brows furrowed as she threw her right arm out. "What could you possibly no about me!" She growled. "How can you possibly understand the pain of being immortal, being alive for twenty years and still not understanding why people were after you? I've lived with this burden for so long and do to this..." She pointed back to the down man. "This...piece of trash, a random village knows about me so I can't step out of the village!"

"You're right, Airi, I really don't know the actual burden of being alive for that long, but how make it sound..." Naruto look softened, though he simply continued to stare Airi directly in her teal eyes. "The two of you had a bond like a friend and me..." He started, but was interrupted.

"Its 'I'." Mai added her two cents.

"Quiet." Naruto growled at her and returned his vision to Airi. "About a month back, I lost a friend, a very close one."

Airi visibly calmed down to look at him.

"He sought something that he just couldn't find back in the Leaf," Flashes of his and Sasuke's final battle flashed through his mind. "So he left and went toward a man named Orochimaru for power. I did everything in my power to bring him back to the village," His teeth gritted. "But I failed." Softly, that look turned into a smile. "But I made a promise to someone that I would bring him back someday, and I still plan on getting that done."

'He can still smile...' Airi stared at the boy for a few seconds with a look of astonishment. That look on his face made her contemplate the choice of bestowing a blessing to this man. Right when her lips moved, this happened-

**BOOOOM**

The two large doors had been launched off the hinges with the left door slicing down a few columns and the one on the right flying straight to Airi, spinning vertically digging into the stone floor.

At this time, Airi eyes were wide as she turned her head to the left to look over shoulder, while Naruto narrowed his eyes.

Quickly, the man that Airi had drop ran.

"Priestess!" Amai and Mai were up in a second quickly rushing to both her sides. The twin sister looked to one another and nodded.

"Formation AM!" Amai yelled clapping her hands together on the left of Airi.

"God's Protection!" Mai finished, also clapping her hand together on the right of Airi.

Directly in the middle of the space they were standing, which meant in the centre of Airi chest that was not even facing the flying door, that pendant began to shine that emerald green and once the door hit Airi, it simply shattered letting pieces fly everywhere. As this happened, Airi had her arms out to the side in her attempt to shield Naruto and she achieved it.

Once everything had settled down, Amai and her upbeat sister Mai stared toward a massive dust cloud, listening to footsteps get closer and closer to them. From the ceiling chunks of the building was falling and also destroying the ground.

On the other hand, Airi stared directly into the eyes of a very stupefied Naruto not wavering a bit, but the blond had a massive blush on his face. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah." Naruto spoke with out stammering. What type of jutsu was that?

"That's good he's okay." That voice had cracked through the dust cloud.

Airi spun around, ready to face whatever danger that was aimed at her life. Though she was still weak, she could still handle herself, but she had yet to face him. "And why do you say this?" Airi asked whoever it was.

It took the man a few second to speak, until a man with a hidden sound headband walked out of the smoke. He stopped and put a hand on his hip. "'Cause Sasuke Uchiha wants the chance to kill him in the future."

Naruto gasped at hearing this. This guy was with Orochimaru and that meant knew where he was. His fist clinched. "Where is he!" Naruto yelled losing his cool. "Where's Sasuke?"

Airi was able to measure the emotion in his voice. Sasuke was the boy that got away. The boy to survive the Uchiha Massacre.

"Getting stronger." The man spoke.

Naruto lifted his foot to step forward, but Amai lifted her right arm to stop his.

Amai narrowed her eyes at the man. It was not everyday a ninja from the Leaf and Sound made there way into their village, and both made it through the barrier, but this man was filled with malice. "How were you able to get through the seal?" She asked.

The man grew a grin. "I destroyed the seal," He flipped another coin. "With my good luck!" He shouted and rushed at them, aiming directly toward Airi.

Amai quickly put up her guards. "Get ready, Mai."

Mai nodded and did the same. "Let's go, sis."

But in a blink of an eye, the man vanished and this caused them to gasp. Instantly, he appeared behind Airi with his back to her back and his body pushed her off the stairs and made her fall down to her stomach. He was faced directly at Naruto, who decided to launch a jab, but the man grabbed his fist with such ease.

Naruto eyes widened as he was then swung around in a circle, hitting both Mai and Amai. The man had let go of his fist sent him and the women flying into a broken off column and this knocked all three of them unconscious.

The Sound Nin turned around and looked down on Airi and tingled a bit in anticipation. He bent over and picked her up by her hair with ease as she squirmed and attempted to be released. "I can already feel your undeveloped chakra being released."

"AH!" Airi gasped out loudly with her hands scratching away at the man's hand. No matter how much damage she did to his hands, he never seemed to let go. "Let go of my hair!"

"Hehehe," The Sound nin grinned. "Of course, a legendary Kai is too feisty for her own good..."

Airi eyes shot over to the left at hearing that name. Was that suppose to be the name of her clan? 'Kai?'

"I can see why Lord Orochimaru has been interested in you so long." And in that second, the man vanished with Airi leaving the Shrine room a mess.

**Scene Change **

There she goes...just another one of my failures in my time as a Shinobi of the Leaf.

_Naruto felt weightless...floating on the surface of water, though the world around was pitch black. Above him, he could see a faint image of Sasuke with his back to him. Slowly and gracefully, his right arm began to lift to reach out to Sasuke. But instead, the artificial Sasuke turned to look of his left shoulder to Naruto with that three Tomoe Sharingan activated. Naruto suddenly felt his heart throb as he then began to plummet down as if he was in the sky and gravity was beginning to take effect._ _He fell toward whatever was below him for a few second until his eyes suddenly as the world began to fade to red from below him._

But I'll still have a lot of fight in me, so givin' up isn't even an option at this point. Let's Go!

**Time Skip **

About an hour later, Naruto eyes snapped wide open with a growl being let loose showing his new blood red irises with the vertical slit. His whisker marks had become more defined and his hair was messier. **"Airi!" **He sat up as fast as he could. **"Airi!" **He searched around the room only to find Mai and Amai next to one another, sitting on the steps next to one another, speaking.

"We'll never find her." Mai spoke in a rather disheartening tone that was not great for her upbeat character. She lifted her right hand and let it flow through her brown hair. "Its been too long since we've been out of it..."

"And to make matters worse," Amai began with her posture still as straight a royal. Yes, Airi's kidnapping was tragic, but she was taught to always be logical and remain calm in a tough situation. She sighed quickly. "We have been around her too long, so being attracted to her chakra is pretty much out of the question." She groaned at the unnecessary events that were happening.

"So, what are we suppose to do then, sis?" Mai asked, leaning to the left, resting her head on her sister's shoulder with a worried expression plastered on her face. "How are we suppose to bring Airi back?"

**"Just follow me!" **Naruto pushed himself with his hands having his hair draped over his eyes.

"What?" Mai and Amai was now aware that Naruto was now awake, but...something was different about the young boy. His chakra...it felt stronger than before.

Naruto stood to his full height with both his fist at his sides, clinched so tight his claws could draw blood. His eyes showed his rage with the blood red irises and the demon slits complementing it. And his teeth were gritted revealing two canines.

'It seems he has gotten serious.' Amai was silently surprised by the determination that shined in his eyes, but it was kind of intimidating with those slits. 'But for who...' She trailed off with a slight thoughtful look that crossed her "life or death situation" face. Her eyes widened in realization. '...he's doing this...for Airi.' The look of shock some faded from off her face, masking the smile that wanted to grace her serious features.

Mai had lifted her head from off of Amai shoulder to blink at Naruto with confusion set in her features. "How are we-" Just like with Amai, realization then set into Mai. "Wait...Hol' up," She got up and walked toward Naruto to cup his cheeks. The priestess pulled the boy up and he had yet to change his facial expression. "You can still feel her chakra, am I right?" She inquired with high hopes.

Naruto merely nodded.

"I understand." Amai stood up with her right index and thumb cupping her chin in thought. It was the obvious fact that this was Naruto's first day being around Airi, so that concluded that the attraction to Airi's chakra was still fresh enough for him to feel the Priestess chakra. She lowered her arm to her side, and nodded to the boy. "Lead the way."

"Uh," Mai nodded with her left fist clinched to her chest. Her face wielded a bright smile on her face. "Yeah, let's go." She spoke so enthusiastically.

**"Then, let's get movin'!" **Naruto spoke in his demonic tone all while he turned around with a flourish. In the next second, the Kyuubi influenced Naruto darted off toward the gaping hole where the two doors once was. He ran with his arms to the back and his brows furrowed. **'Don't worry, Airi...'**

Amai and Mai looked to the sides at one another and nodded to each other as they then darted off to follow Naruto, but instead of running like a shinobi, the continuously swung their arm forward and backward going from their left to right arm.

Once Naruto and the other two made from inside the building and outside, Naruto leaped up into the sky orange sky with his hair blowing. He glared up to the sky with the setting sun completing his thoughts. It was urgent. **'I'm comin' for you.'**

On the other side of the village, Jiraiya, the legendary Toad Sennin, was currently residing on a local bench, accompanied by two women: one a pale skinned pale blond and the other being one with fair skin and dark raven hair. "I swear, this village has some great women!" He spoke loudly with a closed eye grin as the women giggled and cuddled against Jiraiya. The Hermit continued to laugh until his eyes cracked opened to see Naruto leaping from building to building with two females in dark full body cloaks in tow with him. His head slowly shifted to the right following the direction of Naruto. He watched as Naruto and the women leap over the tall wall and out of the village. Awww...why did the brat had to go and cause some trouble. With a groan, Jiraiya unwrapped his arms from around the women and got up to his feet. 'Damn...'

**Scene Change**

"Hmm..." The Sound Nin hummed as his eyes shifted to left to Airi draped over his shoulder with her butt practically in his face, but this was just the way he was carrying her. She had not spoken in a while, and he knew she was not sleep because her elbow were in his upper back, resting her head on her hand. "You haven't spoke in awhile." The man made this observation.

Airi had a bored expression on her face as the man said this. She let out a soft sigh. That "trying to escape" and "damsel in distress" stuff had gotten a bit boring as they got further away from her village. She rolled her eyes. "Didn't assume it was possible that a Kidnapper would try to become all chitchatty with the Kidnappee." She spoke in a dull voice.

The man groaned as he continued to walk. "Don't think of me as a bad guy." He spoke in his defense.

"Yet I'm being taken away by this "Good Guy"." Airi let out a fake chuckle. She shrugged. "Either way, you'll be labeled as a bad guy."

"Hey, I'm just following orders." The man retorted.

"Given to you from you bad guy boss." Airi shot back with a blank expression on her face.

The man merely closed his eyes and sighed. "You got me there." He snickered.

Airi just looked to the out the corner of her eye to the back of the man's head before she let out a soft sigh and let her head fall to rest on only one hand. This guy...he sucked. "Exactly," She started, peaking his attention. "Where are you taking me and who are you taking me to?" She questioned the man.

"Lord Orochimaru," The man spoke. "Surely you've heard of him..." At this, he felt Airi's head nod in confirmation to what he had said.

"Surprisingly, I do have my resources from outside the village." She told the man, watching the passing dirt road below.

"Well..." He trailed as he closed his eyes. "He's interested in the bloodline you carry. You'll be set up with Sasuke Uchiha for the next three year to see how strong you will be after the proper amount of training." He gave a clear elaboration to her, but left out the more important things.

Airi's eyes were slightly wide at hearing this information. She lifted right hand and stared to it in disbelief. 'So...the Sound was the village Mister Kutsugo gave that information to.' She spoke inwardly. They had discovered her clan heritage before she actually knew about it herself. Slowly, a soft, despondent smile crept onto her face feeling the hope leave her body. She wanted to believe that Mai and Amai was on their way...but it had been too long. So she released the hope that laid dormant in her. All of a sudden, a vision of that blond hair idiot flashed in her mind and this caused her eyes to widen for bit, then soften. 'Why am I thinking of him?' She questioned herself. 'He's an idiot.'

**Scene Change**

At this very moment, said blond haired idiot right foot pressed down on a thick tree branch as it cracked from under the sheer power. He was still under the Kyuubi's power, darting toward Airi's location at full speed.

Mai and Amai leaped from tree to tree in tow with Naruto. They were further back than the boy with a worried look on Mai's face and a look of uncertainty on her face. The situation was dire: it was either bring Airi back to the village or not return at all. Which was the obvious choice?

In a blink of an eye, Jiraiya flashed to the right of Naruto and kept up pace with the young boy, leaping from tree to tree. The man had a serious expression due to the fact that Naruto was under the Kyuubi's chakra, but he was relieved to see he had it control. "Hey, Naruto..." Jiraiya trailed of as he looked to the left at Naruto, landing on the next branch and leaping off. He saw the anger in Naruto's eyes and the red chakra trailing behind him. "...What happened now?"

**"We're wasting time, Pervy-sage," **Naruto left foot found its destination on the next branch and when he landed, it cracked and he launched ahead to leave Jiraiya behind.

Jiraiya hummed at the young boy's actions. "That boy..." He groaned and landed on the next tree, but he stopped to watch Naruto disappear in the forest. He shook his head with his eyes closed and his hands on his hips. "What's got him so riled up?"

"I can answer that." Amai suddenly landed on the branch but she did not stay long due to her continuing forward.

"Huh?" Jiraiya's eyes followed her figure as it got further into the forest.

"But you'll have to hurry up." Mai landed on the branch next and cocked a smile to the man, though she continued forward to follow her sister.

Jiraiya eyes were opened beyond the peak just a bit. 'Priestesses...' He hummed and threw himself forward to follow. "What did he do now?"

**Scene Change**

A man, a very pale man walked down a narrow orange hall. The man was tall with long dark hair that reached down to his lower back. He had yellow, vertical slitted eyes with purple eye shadow that curved down hid nose. The hall was lit by wall hung candles, but it was not well lit, though it was enough to navigate around. The had a sinister grin on his face thinking of the things and the game he had set for the future. Things were going according as planned. Sugimakato just needed to give the Nine Tails brat the slip. The man stopped suddenly next to one of the many doors in this maze. His eyes shifted to the left at the door. "Our new plaything will be arriving soon..." The man spoke in a slightly feminine tone. He had spoke to someone directly in the room next to him, but nothing was said back to him. "Make her feel welcomed once she arrives here, but I think the two of you might make a great team."

On the other side of the door, the only thing that could be seen in the dark room, partially lit by a single candle, was two legs crossed over one another on the floor. A huff was heard. "As long as she doesn't distract me from my goal," The boy spoke. "And she better not be a waste of my time."

"Of course, Sasuke..." The man spoke. "Give some time, she'll surprise you."

**Scene Change**

"You really trust me to walk alongside you like this?" Airi asked the man all while trudging with man on the dirt path, her teal eyes holding a bit uncertainty to then. She looked up to the right at the man. It was obvious that the man would be able to stop her if she did make a run for it. "'Cause I do have feet, you know?" She inquired.

The man, the was dubbed as Sugimakato, merely waved the girl off with his left hand. "Go ahead..." He told her, letting her eyes widen in hope. "But just for the record, we do have a great Medical Nin." He told her.

"Uh..." Airi stopped herself at hearing what the man said. For that elaboration, he simply just told her he would hurt her if she did attempt to make a run for it. She crossed her arm and closed her eyes. "How rude."

Sugimakato shrugged. "Just telling it how it is."

"By saying you will be pushed to hurting a little girl." She shot back.

"You and I both know you aren't just a little girl." He returned as he looked down to her out the corner of his eyes and she returned a look that expressed disbelief. "As long as you wield those eyes..." He closed his eyes. "You remain immortal."

Airi looked up to the man as she stopped in her tracks. Her eyes were all over the in disbelief of what the man had just said to her. How did he know all of this stuff about her...It was impossible!

**"Shut the hell up..."**

Airi and Sugimakato heard the yell and their heads turned to look behind them to see Naruto leaping down from a tree directly to the Sound Nin with a round, cyan blue sphere in his right hand, which was cocked back.

Airi eyes were as wide as they could get seeing who had come to her rescue. Not Amai and definitely not Mai! It was that blond haired idiot boy that constantly found a way to irritate her. 'Naruto...' She spoke out in her thoughts in absolute disbelief. '...did he...come for me?'

Sugimakato, the Sound Nin, narrowed his eyes at Naruto. He had heard from Lord Orochimaru that this young boy was the container to the great Kyuubi no Kitsune...the Nine Tails Jinchuriki. A small smirk crossed his lip with the fact that this boy was still young and was unable control the full abilities of the Nine Tails. "Hmph..."

**"Talking to her!" **Kyuubi Naruto yelled as he quickly descended onto the main with his right hand edging forward to the man about to slam his Rasengan right on this man's face.

"Naruto..." Airi spoke in a soft, feminine tone while holding her hands in front of her chest.

"Hmph," The man chuckled a bit at seeing this. His right hand lifted upward toward the arm that Naruto had decided to launch at him. He gripped onto his right and squeezed tight. "That's a pretty nice nature transformation you got there." Sugimakato yanked the boy down, but the body of Naruto caused him to sway his whole upper body to the right letting the Jinchuriki fly over him. He cocked a cocky grin as he slowly began to spin around with his right hand leading. "But let me show you..."

Kyuubi Naruto eyes widened at this action as his Rasengan slowly decreased and evaporated into nothing. The blond haired boy growled roughly as he skidded on the ground with his left foot forward. **"You're not..." **The boy literally growled out as his eyes shifted to the left and he began to spin, but his eyes widened once he spun fully and he stopped at seeing a finger in his face having the thumb cocked up. **"Ah!"**

Sugimakato grinned down to the dumbfounded boy. "My nature transformation." He finished as a blue flame ignited right in front of his finger. "Katon," the flame then grew, causing Naruto's eyes to widen. "Buster Cannon Jutsu." And at that whispered, a massive column of blue flames was shot directly in Naruto's face.

Naruto eyes only continued to widen as the flames began to engulf his whole body.

"Ah!" Airi covered her mouth with a helpless gasp escaping her mouth in worry for the blond. "No, Naruto..." She spoke out from behind her hand. She squeezed her eyes closed trying to understand why in the hell Naruto would come after her? Of everyone else, a stranger. Her left foot unconsciously lifted...

"That's not smart." Sugimakato stopped her in a instant.

Airi let her foot touch back down on the ground as her eyes opened to watch the Sound Nin's right arm lower, but in his wake was a large cloud of dust with the large blast clearing out the forest ahead and a bit around. There was no way... "Why..." She dropped down to her knees as a single tear welled up in her left eye. She had a total hopeless look on her face. "Why did you come to help me, you idiot." That tear then left her eye.

Sugimakato eyes simply stared forward to the dust cloud at hearing Airi's words. It seemed that she had liked him enough to say those words for him.

**"Do I really need a reason to help you?" **

And that was when they heard it. The same demonic voice Naruto had spoke in just a bit ago. "N-no way..." Airi sounded out it a complete astounded tone. There was no way he could survive a direct and utterly powerful jutsu like that. She stared forward as the dust had began to depart leaving behind only glimpses of orange. "Ah!" A opened mouth smile instantly crossed her face.

In the next few seconds, the dust had fully began to vanish with a slimmer surrounding the blond haired boys feet just about fifteen feet away from her. He was visibly bruised with cuts and burn all over his body having his left sleeve and shoulder to his jumpsuit completely burned off with the rest of what had remained of the sleeve being charcoal dark. She also noticed that the Konoha headband was gone. His jumpsuit was completely zipped down the middle revealing his fishnet under armour and a necklace with a emerald green crystal pendant. The boy had his right arm lifted up to his face, wiping his lower lip with what was left of his sleeve. His eyes were a bit narrowed and his brows were knitted in a furious fashion. **"I helped you, because I like you, Airi." **He spoke, ready to put the hurt on this guy. If it was not for the Nine Tails' help, he did not think he would be standing.

At those words, a blush had cross her dark cheeks in a ferocious way. 'Why did he say it like that?' She closed her eyes and squirmed a bit. Naruto, he was a real cutie, but she did not feel that way toward him. She groaned a bit and shook her head side to side with her hair shaking. 'It makes me feel weird.'

Sugimakato hummed and crossed his arm at the current event. That jutsu should have put that boy and that demon inside of him down for good, but instead, he was still standing there. "That Uchiha was right..." He said in a hushed tone. "You're pretty stubborn."

Naruto huffed and rose both his arms. **"Yo, I didn't understand a single thing you said about that nature whatchamacallit." **His fingers settled in front of his face with his elbows pointed out having a cross hand seal. **"But I'mma show you why kidnapping little girls is wrong!" **And at that, clones covered the area all around in a circle with them on the ground and in the trees that was populated around them. What the clones also did was drown out both Naruto and Airi so that they could not be seen.

Sugimakato lowered his arms to his sides as his eyes shifted all around the area to scoop out the surprising odds. He had heard of the boy's unique ability to use the Kage Bushin no Jutsu, and it was worthy of praise. "Hmph." He huffed as he flipped his head up flinging his hair, which was then followed by a spark of lightning a the right side of his head. "This is impressive for a low rank Genin. But..." His right hand lifted forward with his palm facing upward to the sky. Soon, lightning sparked and surrounded his hand. "Its not enough."

In the middle of the sea of clones, Airi was still located on her knees with a completely stupefied look plastered to her face. This was more clones than she had ever seen, but it was more Naruto than she ever wanted to see. She then sat back on her knees with a look that said this was too much for her chakra network to comprehend...guess this boy was stronger than she had expected him to be. Her look slowly softened with a calming smile set on her face. "I guess..." Her hands were on her thighs with both of them entwined with one another. "...this is alright..." And that was when she caught something out the peripheral of her left eye. "Uh..." Her head quickly cocked to the left to look up at a hand with claw nails. Letting her eyes follow up the tanned arm, her eyes was locked onto Naruto's now red and slitted eyes. This startled her just a bit.

Kyuubi Naruto looked down to her as they were hidden by the sea of clones. His left hand was lowered down her with his serious look on his face. **"We have to get moving, Airi," **He spoke with urgency in his voice and her eyes widened at this. **"This place isn't gon' be safe in the next few seconds."**

Airi looked up at the fox like boy for a few second until her left hand lifted as she closed her eyes. She reached out for Naruto's had, but then retracted it a bit in hesitation.

**"C'mon, Airi!" **Naruto rushed her impatiently. **"I'm not a clone."**

"Uh." Airi gasped a bit and took his hand.

Naruto tossed her up a bit so that he could hold the girl bridal style, and this seemed to cause her to grow a ferocious blush over her dark cheeks. In an instant, he leaped up toward the way he had come from.

Sugimakato's eyes shifted to the left at seeing the Jinchuriki leap into the forest. He had saw him and the direction he had went, so he would not make escaping for them easy.

**"Let's go!" **One of the hundred of clones yelled as that single one charged the Hidden Sound Nin.

Sugimakato shifted his eyes to that first clone heading right toward him, but once it even edge closer to him, he shifted to the right and let the clone fly pass him. Quickly, he spun clockwise with his right hand still encased by lightning having it balled up into a fist. Once he met up with the clone that had charged passed him, he finished the spin and back fist the clone causing it to disperse in a cloud of smoke.

And now the whole herd of clones were on him.

The next to get close to him threw a quick jab with its left hand straight to the Sound Nin face without an ounce of hesitation, but the Sound Nin weaved to the right to dodge the fist and then knee the clone right in the gut to make it poof away. In an instant, he threw another back fist to the right and cracked a clone right in the jaw. The next unlucky clone dived at the man, but he leaped up just about a foot over its head and swung a kick downward to slam the heel of his sandle to the back of its head.

Meanwhile, leaping through the forest in a hurry, Naruto, with Airi arms, shot through the forest. He still had the furious look on his face, completely ignoring the blush that was currently present on Airi's face. The only thing the Kyuubi influenced boy could think about was getting Airi to safety and that meant staying away from that man at all costs.

On the other side, Airi stared up at Naruto with her hands over her chest in a helpless way. She could not understand: why was this boy trying so hard to protect her? The two of them were strangers toward one another, but, alas, he was going so far for her. It bewildered her beyond all extents. "You really are an idiot, boy." She spoke and closed her eyes.

Naruto's eyes shifted down to the left at her in slight confusion. **"Ouch...Just say that all of a sudden." **He said back to her.

With her eyes closed, she spoke back to him. "Earlier, you said you didn't need a reason to help me," She said jogging his memory and he nodded at this as he leaped from the next branch. "But everyone has to have a reason to do something."

Kyuubi Naruto just huffed as if he was not even listening to the mediocre logic she actually tried to drop on him. His eyes shifted forward. **"But I don't..." **He landed on the next branch and leaped away. **"Like I said before, I helped you 'cau-"**

"Don't finish that!" Airi yelled, shoving her hands in his face to cover his mouth, but it seemed her hands did everything but that.

**"Whoa, Airi!" **Naruto yelled as his vision was blocked by her hands. He grunted roughly as he attempted to get her to stop.

Airi had her eyes closed as she let out muffled groans with a blush on her face.

Without second thought, Naruto landed on a branch, but in a instant, the branch was cut off from the root by a stream of water. He gasped as he felt the branch began to descend toward the ground.

Airi gasped also at this event.

**'What do I do.' **Naruto thought in haste. That would be a thirty foot fall to the hard ground, and he also had Airi in his arms. It was either plummet to his and Airi's demise or try to come up with a fricking plan in the next three seconds. He squeezed his eyes closed, but it was impossible for someone like him to come up with a plan. Unintentionally, he threw his arms up and tossed Airi in his haste. He had aimed for her to go to the closest branch.

Airi's eyes shifted to the right at the falling Naruto as she soared to the branch. Her right arm reached out to him, but the boy merely made that same cross hand seal. She gasped she shifted her own body to make sure she landed on the branch and once she landed, she fell to her butt as she lost her balance. This was too high for her knowing that she was not trained to do that tree leaping like everyone else. She was far beyond being a civilian...it was just that Mai and Amai never wanted her learning the advanced chakra control techniques.

Before Naruto could successfully pull of the Kage Bushin technique, he was tackled off the branch from the back by an unknown individual. He grunted with his eyes shifting over to right in a attempt to look over his shoulder at whoever tackled him.

Sugimakato peaked his head over Naruto's shoulder with a grin on his face. "Long time no see, Nine Tails."

**"Ah!" **Naruto gasped seeing the man that should have been dealt with, but he was here. That was when Naruto saw a jolt of lightning and he felt a intense pain in his back and he was electrocuted and was shot down to the ground. **'Damn...' **His teeth were gritted as he soared down to the ground. He flipped over easily and skidded on the ground as he spun clockwise to confront the Sound Nin, but exactly when he faced the other way, the man was on him with his left forearm to his neck as his back crashed into the ground and caused Naruto to grind his back on the dirt with the man on top of him.

"No, Naruto..." Airi covered her own mouth, watching from the branch as the man had separated her from Naruto. Her eyes began to lower as her hands did the same at the thought of Naruto being killed by that man just because he tried to protect her from being turned over to one of the Legendary Sennin. She had to help him, but first she had to get out of this tree. Then realization hit her like a ton of bricks: even if she did get down, what could she possibly do to help Naruto? She would only be in his way. Her right hand lifted and she stared down at it for a few seconds until she clinched it tightly. "But there is one thing I," She emphasized I. "can do."

"Airi!"

Airi's head lifted up to see three individuals speeding toward her in a fast pace. Her eyes narrowed as the three individuals closed in on her so that she could see it was Mai and Amai heading to her with a strange man with messy white hair and red face paint.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the man was mounting Naruto with his left fist cocked back. He slung it down to the face of Naruto, but the boy simply shifted his head to the left as the man punched the ground.

The man cocked a smirk and shot his fist down at Naruto once more, but this time Naruto had pulled his right hand up from being restrained to the ground and caught the man's fist with his hand moving an inch.

"One step ahead." Sugimakato shot a upper at Naruto's chin with his right hand and this sent the Jinchuriki sliding from under the man.

Naruto grinded on the ground that was accompanied by rough grunts, but he rolled himself backward to get to his feet and once he stood to his feet, the man was already on him throwing his right fist at him. He swayed to the left and avoided the strike easily, but he was then kneed in his gut and this caused Naruto to stumble backwards with his vision hazy. He pulled up his guards, ready for the blurry man to come at him.

Sugimakato leaped at Naruto and spun counterclockwise with his left leg out to kick Naruto with his heel, but the blond had ducked under it.

Naruto saw his opening and he spun in his ducking position and kicked up the man's leg, tripping him up.

Sugimakato seemingly backflipped and landed on his feet, but he had swayed to the left to dodge a punch from Naruto then he swayed to the right to dodge another punch. He then jumped back a bit to dodge out of the way from a clockwise spin kick and with his new found distance, the man's cheeks puffed up and his head reared back. "Katon." He whipped his head forward and released a hell of a fire blast right in Naruto's direction, engulfing the boy one again. "Dragon's Breath!" The man yelled.

"I will not permit it!" Amai yelled with her arms crossed over her breast in absolute frustration at the girl on the next branch in front of her, maybe ten feet away. Mai and that Legendary Sennin, Jiraiya, stood at both her sides, silent as they just watched the transition.

Airi's eyes were wide at Amai decline her the right to use the only ability that would save Naruto's life. "B-but, Amai..." She spoke out in a cracking tone. "Naruto's gonna be hurt if I don't help him." She said, still sitting on the branch.

Amai closed her eyes in a stubborn way. "That's his problem..." She said rudely. "This man next to me already to me to refrain from helping that blond haired boy."

Airi shifted and let her eyes rest on the man that was to the right of Amai. This man most have been that Pervy-sage guy Naruto had spoke of earlier in the day before everything had went to crap.

Jiraiya looked to the little girl with a straight face and said, "Naruto needs this, so by defeating that man down there is the way he will be one step closer to his goal," and he had said it as if it was as easy as that.

Airi aimed her hand down to where Naruto had just got torched at. "Are you blind?" She held back a yell. "Its clear as day that that man has a Kekkei Tota and you have Naruto fighting him by himself." The look in her eyes showed the disgust she had toward her big sister and that man. This man wanted Naruto to become stronger the hard way, but he did not know that this time it could mean death to him. But she was not about to let that occur. Her brows knitted at the man and Amai. "Tch...I'll have to help him myself then, because you have no control over me."

At this, the once silent Mai nodded a leaped over to Airi's branch as the girl stood up to her feet. The woman gave Amai a sour look due to the fact that her previous word were not ideal in her eyes. She held her right hand out and Airi to it with her left hand. "Are you blind to not see that Airi here is in love." She spoke.

"Wait, what?" Airi said out in a stammered tone as she looked up to the left with a blush on her cheeks. "Why would yo-" Before she could finish, her and Mai vanished to the ground below. "Say that!" She finished in a slight squeal.

"No reason." Mai smiled down to her and let go of her hand.

"Hmph." Airi huffed and distaste.

"But if you're sure about this, then I'm behind you all the way." Mai tapped Airi on her back, which caused the girl to stumble forward.

Jiraiya and Amai stood on top of the branch, looking down on the event that was about to take place. Both silent in the wait to see what would occur.

After Naruto had been blasted with another fire styled jutsu, the boy stood in the wake of the fire with his upper garments completely burned off revealing a emerald green crystal necklace hanging around his neck. The boy was doubled over, panting heavily with his singed skin bleeding. **"Don't think I'm givin' up." **He lifted his body to stand up straight, but he stumbled a bit not in proper health to even be standing.

Sugimakato stood there, maybe six feet away from Naruto with his left hand on his own hip as he smiled in satisfaction. He was told this boy would never give up easily, so that only meant he could have a chance to show this boy his Unique ability. He looked directly to Naruto with a high powered look on his face. "Oh, I really wouldn't want you to." His left hand lifted slowly to his mouth making Naruto stare at the man. He had took his left thumb and placed it among the bridge of his teeth and he bit down...drawing blood. "Plasma Release..."

"Here I go!" Mai leaped in to intervene and kick the man square in his gut to make him slide a good ten feet. The older priest looked over her right shoulder to Airi, who had just ran passed her toward Naruto. "Hurry while I try to hold 'em back."

"Hmph, as if!" Sugimakato whipped his finger from out of his mouth with a long trail of blood following to the left. He pushed his right hand forward initiating his technique. "Neon Trident Strike!" And at this, thousands of rainbow colored tridents were fired directly toward Mai from the side of the stream of blood.

'Ah! So this is Plasma Release?' Mai spoke inwardly, complementing the Kekkei Tota the man had just released onto her. But, never hesitating, she threw her right hand up in the air with her fingers as straight as a line. Her eyes were closed as she released a deep breath. "As he watches over me, he will bless me and with my unrelenting faith..." Her hand lowered and she held her other one in front of her chest with her eyes still closed. "He will protect me." He whole body was then shrouded by and emerald green light that caused her robes to flow. "God protection."

And in that next second, the tridents were seen hitting the shroud around Mai's body, but none ever penetrated.

Airi nodded as she darted her eyes right at Naruto, who could only have his eyes widened to hell. And in that next second, Airi tackled to the boy to the ground to straddle his waist. The young girl looked down on the boy with a blush on her face and a sheepish look. "Hold still, idiot." She ordered him as her head lowered to Naruto as her eyes closed and her hands rested on his chest. She was doing this because he just would not stop trying to protect her and he would jiust ended up getting himself killed in the long run. So he was her choice.

Though his power was still being influenced by the Nine Tails' chakra, Naruto could not help but blush at her head coming his way. He watched her edge closer and closer to him and this only made him close his eyes in preparation of what was to come next. Only a few seconds had passed and he only felt something land on his forehead and this was when he decided to investigate. His eyes slowly creaked open, but then they widened gradually at the sight of Airi's eyes right on his with zero space between one another. Their foreheads were touching and her nose was right next to with lips only inches away from one another's. **"Uh...Airi..."**

"Connection Property Identified." Airi spoke out suddenly with a blush still present on her cheeks. "Naruto Uzumaki..." Bothe her eyes had began to fade to black without and pupil or screla. "Synchronization commence." And that was when her body went limp.

Naruto saw this and got very worried for her. **"Airi, are yo-" **Before he could even finish his sentence, he felt a intense jolt of power run through his whole body and this made his back come off the ground. Both his eyes were as wide as sauser as both iris soon faded from red to orange with a single dot on both sides of the slits in his eyes. Suddenly, his new upgrade caused a massive gust of wind to be released from all around his body making the grass wave and the trees sway violently. **"Haaaaa!" **He yelled, now clinching his fist as he felt the overwhelming power curse through his body.

Mai eyes suddenly widened at this immense power that knocked her off balance and the prayer she had sent out to protect her had vanished leaving her wide open. In a split second, a red trident was centimeters away from her stomach in a attempt to pierce her body. She gasped and squeezed her eyes shut.

This seemed to cause Sugimakato to grin. This woman could not be save and this was it for her.

"Ah, Mai!" Amai screeched out as she bent her knees to leap down to assist the other twin. She knew she was not fast enough to stop that trident in under a second.

"Wait!" Jiraiya halted her as he lifted up his right arm.

Mai continued to have her eyes squeezed closed, but realization hit her. She never felt any pain nor was she bleeding. Her eyes slowly creaked opened to see nothing, but her eyes then shifted downward to a mop of orange, messy hair. 'Airi?' She questioned herself. No. The hair was too short and that was when she noticed it was that boy Airi had accepted as her chosen.

Naruto stood there in front of Mai with the middle tooth of the trident piercing the middle of his left hand as he had prevented it from even touching Mai. Blood was slowly leaking from his hand, but he clinched his hand and crushed the trident as it turned to sparkles.

Jiraiya stood on the branch with a serious expression. His eyes had darted to the space behind Mai to see Airi's motionless body then his eyes shifted to Naruto. His eyes were orange instead of blood red, his hair was also orange and now long in a way that he had a ponytail to his lower back and the slit marks in his eyes both had a single dot on both sides. That was not the usual Kyuubi influenced Naruto, but something genuinely stronger. His eyes shifted to the right to Amai. "Mind telling me what that little girl just did to Naruto?" he inquired.

Amai continued to stare down at Naruto...no Airi...she did not no what to call it. She was a bit jealous that Airi actually chose someone from another village over her. "Well...let me explain to you as Airi explained this to us." She began. "She inserted herself within Naruto's chakra network."

Jiraiya's eyes widened questioningly. "What?"

"She offered herself to Naruto." Amai spoke with her eyes closed, letting out a soft breath. "Mind and Soul...even someone like her, not having the basic skills of you shinobi and us upper priest. But this event just told me something."

Jiraiya turned his head to her and asked, "And what is that?"

Amai knew this was hard to do, but she unveiled a smile to the world in her respect for Airi. "No matter how I think, Airi will always be her own person with her own massive chakra network." She informed the man.

Jiraiya let a soft smile cross his lips at the woman's resolve.

"So, I have a request for you, Sennin." Amai spoke with a lowered head.

"What?"

Sugimakato stared at Naruto, looking him from head to toe. How could his power have increased in such little time? No wait...it was the Kai clan's legendary Jutsu. The Fusion technique. She had placed herself in Naruto to give him the boost in power he really needed. His eyes continued to widened in fear. 'There's no way I can beat him now!'

Mai turned around slowly and lifted the body of Airi up and held her lifeless body bridal style. So...it worked. She made the assumption that they were compatible with one another, seeing as Airi was not forced out yet. "Hey...Airi..." She trailed off, not sure of what response she would receive.

**"Mai..." **Naruto's head nodded, though she also answered to the name that he/she was called, which could only mean one thing.

Mai blinked a few times. "So, you're in control, Airi?" She asked. "What happened to Naruto? Do he have anything strange in his body?" She spoke pretty eagerly.

**"Yeah." **Naruto(Airi) answered Mai's first question. He(she) lifted his hand to look at them in slight shock at the chakra which the boy held. **"I let his conscious drift of into a dream state, so when he wakes, it'll be like he handled this man." **He(she) informed her older sister. **"But as for strange things..." **He(she) closed his eyes and lowered his arms. **"...He is a Jinchuriki..." **He(she) answered her final question.

Mai's eyes were about to pop out of her head at that information. "Jinchuriki? To what?" She asked in a attempt to be cautious. "The Two, the Three Tails?" She asked.

Naruto(Airi) shook his head and opened his eyes with a serious mug on Naruto's face. **"The Nine Tails...the Kyuubi."**

Mai eyes widened even not knowing if she could take any more information like this. Her eyes were a bit shaky and her hands seemed to also be a bit restless. "But...but you're still in there..." She tried to make sense of this whole thing. "Wouldn't it had tried to force you out?"

**"Yeah, because it did." **Naruto(Airi) admitted tapping his forehead with his left index finger. **"It was tough...but I managed to prevail against the demon, and I guess I stripped away the chakra that he was sending to Naruto."**

Mai's mouth was agape as she stared to the back of Naruto's head in amazement. He grew a smile letting it replace her wide open mouth. "In action, you truly are somethin', Airi, you know."

Airi huffed and then stared toward the trembling man ahead. **"I really don't see it as that." **She whispered to herself and began to make her way forward. By the hysterical look on the man's face, she could tell he was afra of her, and she did not blame him.

'What...' The man, Sugimakato, took a very hesitant step back at the boy...girl walking toward him.

**"You tried to kidnap me." **Airi started as she closed her eyes. **"Wrecked the Shrine back home..."**

Sugimakato felt his heart thump almost crawling up from his chest and leaping out his mouth. He/She was so strong...it was impossible.

Airi's eyes snapped open to reveal a orange glow, which caused the man's heart to stop. She took this chance and moved her right hand out to the side as she thought about that technique use when he leaped from that tree. Slowly, a small speck of a blue ball began to expand in his hand. She looked directly to the man. **"This is the Rasengan." **She vanished then appeared in front of the man in a lunging type way. **"Here!" **She shouted and slammed the sphere onto the man's chest as it blew him far into the distance then into the air.

**Time Skip**

Naruto(Airi), Jiraiya, Amai and Mai, still holding Airi's body, stood over the dead body of Sugimakato not to long later. The affects of this Rasengan had completely murdered this man.

Jiraiya had already seen how strong that particular Rasengan was and it would have been a miracle to see that man had survived that attack. But he was not that lucky. His eyes shifted over to Airi, but still in Naruto's body. What was this jutsu and what could she do with it? This Airi would be a formidable asset to the Leaf.

Naruto looked down at the lifeless body, able to hide the fear she held. This was the first time she had every killed anyone. But she had to, right? Her eyes were lowered as she looked down to the body. **"So..." **She started, grabbing everyone's attention. **"What are we doing next?" **

Amai silently lifted her head to look at Jiraiya, remembering what she asked of him to do. It was a hard decision for her to make and she knew everyone in the village would throw a fit knowing their precious priestess had left. But this was what had to happened. The seal protecting Airi was gone and that meant anyone was allowed into the village, so this had to happen. "Well..."

**Time Skip**

Airi, back in her original body, stood at the top of the slope that leaded to her home. She stood there looking down at it with a sorrowful expression, watching as Mai and Amai watched her depart from the village, though Mai was waving. She was leaving her home for precautions. So they would not be attacked due to her presence. In these next few years, she would be training alongside Naruto and that Jiraiya guy so that she could learn how to properly control her chakra so that it did not just leak out constantly.

"Yo! C'mon, Airi!"

Airi lifted her head and turned her head to look over her shoulder with a soft smile plastered on her face, watching as Naruto hopped around and Jiraiya stood there with his hand on his hip, ready. She closed her eyes and turned to walk toward them. "Yeah, let's go." She said as when she got next to them, they started walking alongside her. Naruto had a massive grin on his face with his hands behind his head while Jiraiya walked with a small smirk.

**End **

**Hoped you all liked this**


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